Overall winners for the World Whisky Awards 2022 have just been announced! By way of background, the World Whiskies Awards (or WWA in short) is one of the most prestigious and heavily anticipated competitions in the world of whisky. Old and new bottlers alike greatly desire the awards. The WWA also goes a long way in identifying and establishing new, relatively unknown names in whiskyland as critically-acclaimed whisky brands.

This is also the 10th anniversary of the competition – which has been running since 2012 – and we think the winners of the WWA 2022 really demonstrate how much the world of whisky has evolved since the 2010s.

What is the WWA about?

The WWA is designed to identify the best whiskies in 16 categories covering style and production methods (e.g. World’s Best Single Malt, World’s Best Blended, World’s Best Bourbon). 

In the first and second rounds, independent spirits experts would conduct blind tastings. From their scores gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded, and a winner is selected for each category and country (e.g. Best Japanese Single Malt, Best Scottish Single Malt). In the third round, each country’s winner then competes for the title of World’s Best in each category. 

The WWA also has a section for outstanding bottle designs, but let’s just look at how the juice tastes today.

So let’s take a look below at 5 overall winners of the WWA in our favourite categories below.   

Before looking at the big winners, you may wish to have a quick look at our commentary on some interesting Round 1 winners. Two of them turned out to be big overall winners!

5 Overall Winners from WWA 2022

1. The Akkeshi, Shosho

World’s Best Blended Whisky

Akkeshi Distillery is a Japanese craft whisky distillery from Hokkaido, Japan, which focuses on offering “a taste of the region” using ingredients sourced locally such as Akkeshi barley, peat and even Mizunara oak. Distillation only began in 2016. Much like Islay distilleries, Akkeshi Distillery uses local water that has passed through a layer of peat – which can be naturally found around the town of Akkeshi. Maturation also occurs on the cool, breezy coastal town.  

The Akkeshi Shosho is a blended expression made from a combination of malt whisky and grain whisky. 

The WWA’s official tasting notes:–

"The nose is smoky, woody and well-balanced. It's oaky and thick on the palate, with peat, malt, orchard fruit and sherrycask character of dried fruits and almonds. Medium finish.”

2. Yamazakura Blended Malt Asaka

World’s Best Blended Malt Whisky

Here is another bottle that continues the Japanese craft whisky theme! 

Yamazakura, named after a species of Japanese cherry blossom flowers, is a brand founded by one of the oldest Japanese sake brewer in the Tohoku region of Japan – Sasanokawa Shuzo Co. You may recall that Ichiro Akuto-san of Chichibu fame was at one point desperate to save his family heirloom casks of Hanyu single malt after the closure of Hanyu Distillery. Sasanokawa Shuzo Co. graciously stepped in to offer warehouse space so that those precious casks of Hanyu whisky could be stored and matured. This whisky would later be bottled as the famous Hanyu Playing Cards series of 54 bottlings, a cult hit amongst Japanese whisky lovers.

In 2015, Sasanokawa Shuzo Co. established the Asaka Distillery in Fukushima, the colder northeastern part of Japan with snow-capped mountains and a cold ideal climate for whisky maturation. 

The Yamazakura Blended Malt Asaka is a blend of “carefully selected domestic malt whisky” and malt whisky from the Asaka Distillery. 

The WWA’s official tasting notes:–

"The nose is woody and sherried, with grapefruit, ripe fruit, and oak. The palate is well-balanced, with dusty woodiness, big-boned body, peat, complex 'old whisky' funk, and slight sulphur at the back. A bittersweet finish.”

It should be noted that this Yamazakura had also beaten some much higher-profile brands, the likes of the Mars Komagatake X Chichibu Malt Duo and Lark Distilling’s Symphony No.1 blend of Tasmanian malt whisky.

3. Redemption’s Barrel Proof High Rye Bourbon 10 Years Old

World’s Best Bourbon

Here’s the brand with the bold claim “to bring rye whiskey back to its rightful place.” They seem to take issue with the fact that rye whiskies today tend to be too sweet, too close to the high-corn based Kentucky style bourbons. I have heard of many as Scotch lover make that same complaint. And it seems clear that rye isn't meant to be sweet and friendly. Adding rye is supposed to give your bourbon more spice, hotness and a more lively clove-like character.

I’d love to say we called this win in our earlier commentary, but the odds were between just 2 bottles- the Old Forester 100 Proof (a Kentucky bourbon) and this Redemption (a non-Kentuckian bourbon). 

The WWA’s official tasting notes:–

"Nose full of fruity raisins, with citrus and a touch of caramel. The palate starts bright, but moves into prunes, toasted nuts, dried fruit and maple. Like Christmas in a glass."

Perhaps the tasting notes did not make this evident, but the main difference between the Redemption and the Old Forester is that the Old Forester is somewhat sweeter. On the other hand, there is a little more “kick” in the Redemption due to its spicy rye backbone.   

4. Stalla Dhu, Caol Ila 11 Years Old Cask Strength

World’s Best Single Cask Single Malt

Independent bottler Stalla Dhu Whiskies earns another feather in its cap for its quality picks. This one’s a cask strength Caol Ila 2008 that was aged for 11 years in a less active hogshead, then bottled at 60.4%.

The WWA’s official tasting notes:–

"Peat reek, bonfire and tar, on the nose. Very malty sweetness. A creamy texture and mouth-coating on the palate, with smoked fish, umami, cigar smoke, and florals. There's juicy orchard fruits, vanilla, white pepper, and oak, too."

From personal experience, cask strength Caol Ilas tend to exhibit more character and have an incredible fruitiness to compliment the signature peat reek. The WWA appears to take the same view with this Stalla Dhu bottling.

One notable bottle this has beaten is the highly coveted Sullivans Cove American Oak Old & Rare HH0609 - a 13 to 20 year old rare Sullivans Cove expression.  

5. The Lakes Distillery’s The Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.4 Single Malt

World’s Best Single Malt

This year’s golden title of World’s Best Single Malt goes to a fairly new English distiller - Lakes Distillery. The distillery operates in Cumbria, an English county on the north-west of the country that borders Scotland. And while it had began distilling in 2011, it only began releasing whiskies within the past few years.

You may think that much of Lakes’ whisky remains too young to make an serious assessment about the quality. However, Lakes appears to have already earned the respect of an army of whisky lovers.

The distillery operated for about 4 years, before hiring ex-Macallan whisky maker, Dhavall Gandhi, in 2015. Gandhi was said to be given heavy investment backing and free reign to decide on the direction of the distillery. He apparently felt that the quality of the spirit was not up to scratch then, and decided to re-conceptualise the voice of Lakes Distillery. 

The distillery now focuses on creating a sherry-led house style.

Not short on marketing flourish, Lakes describes itself as having a “wood-forward” approach – essentially implying that it uses high-quality oak barrels for aging. This sounds a little bit similar to how Glenmorangie Distillery likes to describe its “wood management policy” for cask maturation. The distillery also talks about its use of an élevage approach to whisky-making - a practice more commonly seen in the cognac industry. While most distilleries seal whiskies in casks before returning after years to sample the result, Lakes constantly moves the maturing spirit around different casks as the spirit matures, believing this approach helps elevate the flavour profile. 

Lakes Distillery’s The Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.4 is part of the “Whiskymaker Series” of experimental bottlings. It has been matured in oloroso, Pedro Ximenez sherrry casks and red wine casks, and is intended to have a thick and rich flavour profile. 

The WWA’s official tasting notes:–

"The nose is a medley of stewed red berries (raspberry, blackberry, cranberry, cherry), with muscovado sugar, cigar tobacco, cedarwood, cola cube, dark chocolate and strawberry laces. The palate has medium body, and it is reminiscent of rich Madeira cake, with lots of dried fruits and mixed candied citrus peels. There are notes of sour black cherries and blackcurrant cordial, with an underlying maltiness and pleasing bitter element reminiscent of dark ales or porter. The finish is a beautiful balance of tart red berries, bittersweet chocolate, and gentle black tea tannins."

It should be noted that this bottle had beaten some very big names from Scotland, Australia and Japan – the likes of Glenmorangie Grand Vintage 1996, Bunnahabhain 25 Years Old, Hellyers Road Original 12 Years Old and Kanosuke’s Distillery Exclusive Single Malt. 

Our Take

It is an interesting and unusual lineup to say the least. You can find the full list of overall winners here. 

The WWA committee appears to increasingly recognise the quality of Japanese upstarts such as Kanosuke, Akkeshi and Yamazakura. As far as I know, this is the first time so many bottles from Japanese craft distilleries - such as Akkeshi and Yamazakura (who owns Asaka Distillery) have made it to final rounds of the WWA. Kanosuke’s Distillery Exclusive IPA Cask edition has also been given a fair shake, winning the Best Japanese Single Malt category. 

And while the Japanese single malt category has traditionally been associated with gentle, delicate and floral notes, consider how both overall winners from Japan – the Akkeshi Shosho and Yamazakura – have some peaty notes with rich oaky palates. One can certainly appreciate how far the Japanese whisky market has matured to now appreciate greater complexity in whisky.  

The World’s Best Bourbon title seems a little contrived to me, considering the limited competition and the fact that all bourbon originate from one country - the USA. Yet, it is great that WWA committee has validated what Redemption is doing with its spicy high-rye bourbon – an answer to the frequent complain Scotch enthusiasts have against extremely sweet bourbon.

Finally, Lakes’ induction into whisky-maker hall of fame is a little unexpected, but not shocking considering the stellar reputation it had built for itself for its surprisingly high quality whisky within the recent years. It must be remembered that in its early days, the distillery had many naysayers. Many initially questioned its self-assured claims of quality early on despite being a young distillery. Some were irked by its flashy marketing approach. Initial criticisms were scathing – Lakes seemed to style itself as a new Macallan, and appeared to be trying in vain to manufacture such an identity and quality overnight. Heck, even their bottle design appears Macallan-inspired.   

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Those same critics tasted it. They liked it. All has been forgiven (or forgotten). 

@charsiucharlie